


The Guest

by nereidee (aurasama)



Series: Frictional October 2018 challenge [1]
Category: Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Genre: Forehadowing, Gen, pre-game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-02
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-07-23 23:42:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16169177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aurasama/pseuds/nereidee
Summary: The outrider hasn't been able to forget about the strange foreigner who came seeking the baron's aid. He has not returned from Brennenburg and Gabriel's thoughts are drawn to the old sinister stories surrounding the barony...Pre-game, sometime after Daniel's arrival. Written for Frictional Challenge on Tumblr, based on the prompt 'outsider'.





	The Guest

Rain is falling heavily and Gabriel shivers, pulling his coat more firmly around himself as though it might keep out the evening chill, so early to arrive now that summer is coming to a close. The weather has been miserable since the ride from Bremen, he thinks somberly, as if the Englishman's arrival had somehow set in motion something unpleasant.  
  
His thoughts are drawn back on the thin young man who'd insisted to be taken all the way to Altstadt, despite the outrider's protests, Something about him still haunts Gabriel's thoughts; he had seemed considerably worn out, too much for someone his age and status, and dreary, somehow, as if he were carrying some unseen burden with him. The pale autumn sun had robbed him of what little colour he had and cast heavy shadows after him for a man so slight.  
  
Clearly, the foreigner is troubled, but by what, Gabriel doesn't know. He hadn't spoken a word about it with the driver or the outrider despite their efforts to humour him. The outrider can only wonder what it is that makes him seek the baron's aid.  
  
He pushes a hand in his pocket and takes out the handsome pocket watch the foreigner had given him. Daniel, that's the name. Gabriel's eyes are drawn to the narrow forest path leading out of the village and towards the castle as he stows the watch back into his pocket. Perhaps he ought to have told Daniel of the stories that are told about Brennenburg and its elusive master, though they are often repeated only in whisper and never, ever around the master himself. Perhaps he ought to have warned him, advised him to turn back. Perhaps, but what's done is done, Gabriel thinks and sighs.  
  
Not that anything he could have said would have sounded sane. He thinks back on that awful night in the woods when he saw that… that _thing_ disappear into the cave, or the story his father always repeated, that he'd seen one of the fabled Gatherers with his own eyes…  
  
No, it would have sounded like he's trying to pull the Englishman's leg or to spook him with some old ghost story, told to travellers for entertainment and advice alike. Surely, Daniel would have laughed. He seemed like a scholar; hardly the type to believe in such tales.  
  
Gabriel remembers the ride to the castle and the elderly baron stepping out on the courtyard to greet his guest in person, always hospitable despite his ancestral home's reputation in the surrounding region. The outrider shakes his head. Baron Alexander has always been a withdrawn figure but friendly in those few occasions that Gabriel has met him. To even attempt to connect such unpleasant rumours to him would be unkind, and Gabriel isn't one for gossip, anyway.  
  
“The Englishman hasn't come back from the castle yet,” he mutters, crossing his arms. It really is quite cold tonight for all that it's still August. “Perhaps the baron was able to help him, after all.”  
  
His breath comes out in white vapour and he looks around, but the street is deserted. He's hardly seen a soul today; even without the ugly weather people here avoid going out after dark, and children are advised not to stay out late.  
  
_Come to think of it, I haven't seen Elise in two days,_ Gabriel pauses, frowning. This worries him – he knows her father is rumoured to be rough and unkind with his children. _Perhaps I'll pay the Zimmermanns a visit tomorrow._  
  
He puts on his hat, stands up and makes for the inn. Such a cold night warrants a drink to ward off dark thoughts – and whatever is said to be lurking in the woods, hopefully.  
  
Gabriel's thoughts are drawn to the Englishman one more time. He surely could have used a drink, too, to drown out whatever's ailing him.

**Author's Note:**

> Gabriel, the outrider, is only referenced in loading screens and flashbacks during the game, but the short story collection Remember sheds some more light on him. He's a very minor character but I've always liked him a lot and after writing him as an important side character in one of my longer AUs, I've been itching to write something from his POV. I'm glad I finally got around to doing that.


End file.
